Organizations that own, control, or manage multiple facilities or building such as businesses, property management groups, universities, colleges, or government entities, are often faced with a management and communication problem. For instance, remote and dispersed sites often include one or more continuously and independently operating fire alarm control panels, security systems, building control systems or the like to monitor some or all of the regions of the respective properties. Communication between various fire alarm control panels are commonly organized in a ring topology or bus topology using a token passing protocol. Problems that occur with the various fire alarm control panels or the communication network can be difficult to pinpoint and resolve.